The two days seminar (April 25-26) in the Biennial had many highlights and created a lot of discussions about what goes on in the artworld beyond the surface as well as some general conclusion about the status of art in our society:

Professor Boris Groys gave a speech about how politics have become aesthetic and a form of art. (extract on YouTube below)

Jennifer Allen, critic living in Berlin, talked about secrets and gossips in the artworld: "I deal with facts only, albeit facts – I can’t believe I am writing these words – that cannot be reported. There are so many more questions, projections and possibilities, which have also been left out of the discussion as we whisper and worry about our own names being softly spoken to someone else. What lies beyond the state and the market? Can art still be considered a social good, distinct from other commodities? /.../Unfortunately – this sentence I am going to shout – I cannot really address these issues in relation to the events that are happening right now in the contemporary art realm because no one wants to be quoted."

Allen showed this picture from 1964 of Margarette Lampkin telling Andy Warhol a secret at an art factory party.

1. Anxiety of Creativity, Possible Worlds and Secrets of the Artworld. Discussions revolve around existential conditions of creativity and its possibilities, 25th- 26th April 2009.2. Farewell to Hidden Agendas - Towards an Open Post-Western Society? Critical Reflection on the 1st Ladonia Biennial International conference presented together with the Goethe Institute, 15th-16th June 2009. This final conference will bring together artists, curators and experts to critically examine the 1st Ladonia Biennial, and to assess this year’s Biennial in Venice with in-depth and critical reflection.